Improvement in cotton and hay-presses



`in that it gives velocity of movement where speed is ithlird.

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Letters Patent No. 94,602, dated September 7 1869.

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IMPROVEMENT IN COTTON AND HAY-PRESSES.

The Schedule 'referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom tt may concern Be it known that I, J. J. HINEs, ot' Evergreen, in the county of Goneciih, and State of Alabama, have invented a new and improved Cotton and Hay lress'; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making apart of this spccilicat-ion, in which- Figure 1 is a side view, a small portion being shown in section.

Figure 2 is an edge view.

This A invention is an improvement upon those presses, in which toggle-joint levers are employed to raise and lower the platen; and

It consists in a novel and simple application of such levers, in combination with the means f'or :ictuatiiig them.

An obvious advantage of toggle-joint levers over all others, for raising and lowering the platen of a cotton or hay-press, is found in the fact that when the mateli'al is tirst put into the box it is loosean'd offers but slight resist-ance to the platen, while afterward, as it becomes more compressed, it oifcrs very great resistance. The platen, therefore, might well be raised very rapidly at first by the application of but little power, but as it rises, meeting with continually-increased resistance, there must be continually-increased power and diminished velocity.

To this movement the toggle-joint levers are peculiarly adapted, and theretbre a press operated by them will always have a decided advantage over all others,

required, and wheiepower is needed it iiirnishes one of the most powerful appliances known to mechanics. I have, theretbre, sought to improve this class of presses, by the application of a novel device, to increase its effective power, and by simplifying the arrangement and combination ot its working-parts, so as to make it cheap, light, and convenient ot' operation.

To this end I have, with most advantageous results, employed the arrangement shown in the accompanying drawings, in whicli- A reiiresents the i'i'a'ine of the press;

B, the conductor or tube under the press-box;

C, the laterally-sliding head, against. which the bale is compressed, the i'alls pt' the press-box heilig removed, as shown inthe drawings;

D, the platen;

lil E', the two 'levers forming the toggle-joint apparatnsfor raising and lowering the platen;

F F, cords, ropes, or chains, which force the levers togethenand cause their upper ends .to rise with the platen; and

G, the shaft, turned by a wheel or crank, H, which winds up or unwinds the ropes F F, and thus raises or lowers the platen.

The sha-ft G is supported in a cross-beam, A, which comes at the central joint of the levers, when they are raised, so that the draught of the rope is directly inward, applyingI the power to the greatest advantage at the time when the most power is needed.

I J ai'e guides, attached to the platen, and extending through slots or gains in a cross-beam', A?, for the purpose ot' keeping the platen perfectly horizontal under all circumstances.

The whole arrangement, as thus described, is simple, convenient, and effective The upper arms of the two levers ll 'l' are made with al1 outward bend at c, and are provided with friction-rollers, fr r. v

These rollers bear against a curved concave track or bed cut in the under side of the platen, and indicated by the dotted lines (i a- (t u, iig. 1, the deepest part of sa-id cut being exactly at the centre ot' the platen, and from that pointit grows slialloworas it extends toward either end.

The trunnions, or journals i i, ot' the i'rictiiiii-rollers,

extend through thc walls ofthe levers E llf, as shown in tig. 2, and `follow a curved ,ti-ack, iiriiiedby means of iron rods mini, arranged as shown in iij. '1, the curve of said track corresponding to that of the. track me c, in the under side ot' the platen.

\Vheii the levers have nearly come together, in ordinary toggle-joint presses, they act with great power,

vbut with even unnecessaryslowness, so that the platen can hardly be said to move at all thi-some time betoi-o the levers cease to move.

The peculiar construction above described is -designed to obviate this diiiicult)Y and to cause thelevers to continue to raise the platen even to the ond ot' their own movement.

As the levers begin to lift, their upper ends will come together, the trunnions ruiming against the stops ul fu.

'.lhe bent ends e c', of the levers, will then cont-him` to move till their faces become parallel with each other.

Upto this time the levers will have heen acting with no greater force than heretofore, but the moment that the bent ends c' c pass the parallel and begin io separat-e again, the rollers r r will bc forced outward, and will act upon the double incline a a. it (l, in such a nia-nner to raise the platen by thcirown horizontal motion in addition to raising it by their vertical motion, and ,this duplex moveinent'and operation will continue until the toggle-levers shall have entirely ceased to move.l

The additional impulse thus given t9 the platen is considerable, especially as compared with the space through which the platen moves toward t-he end of the movement ofthe levers.

Having thus described my invention,

NVhnt I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a toggle-joint;'leve1'-press, the employment of the levers bent at e, in connection with .the frictionrollers o' r, the concave track u. a a a, and the curved track an m, for the journals i fi, substantiallyns described, and for the purpose specified.

2. The arrangement of theshafi; G'soes to come `purposes specified.

J. J. EINES.

Witnesses:

ALLEN M. GUNN, Bison. D. BowLEs. 

